On Wednesday, the PGA Tour confirmed that Colonial will be played May 24-27 as scheduled, and gave reason for optimism into the future.

“As we look toward the 2018 event and beyond, we will continue to work alongside Colonial Country Club in an effort to ensure the event will be a part of the PGA Tour schedule for many years to come,” a PGA statement read.

As a result, the status of the Nelson will act as a ballast blast for Colonial.

Children, all ye gather ’round and open thy ears for herest rests the truthiest truth of all: There is no way the PGA Tour is going to abandon and allow a tournament in Dallas to die.

There should not exist an actual the Colonial vs. the Nelson scenario. Good-natured gamesmanship is one thing; hoping/planning for the failure of one of these established tournaments is entirely different.

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When it comes to the local PGA Tour events, I am biased towards a preference for the Colonial, primarily because the course is simply easier on the feet. Any preference for one tournament does not mean a wish for failure for the other.

Local golfers continually hear, and spread rumors, that the new Trinity Forest is a disaster, and that in a few years the tournament will move back to the TPC at Las Colinas. Or elsewhere.

That the PGA Tour pros will hate it, skip it and pine for a return to Las Colinas. One of the draws of Las Colinas is the resort of the Four Seasons; PGA Tour pros would play the tournament while their families would enjoy the pool and the hotel.

Any new location is going to have some problems, bugs and kinks. Then those problems are worked out, improved or dealt with.

No one with the tournament, or the PGA Tour, is denying the fact that the event has suffered since the death of Byron Nelson in 2006. The best of the PGA Tour no longer run to Las Colinas in response to Bryon’s personally hand-written invitations to play his tournament.

In 2005, virtually all of golf’s biggest names showed up to play the Nelson and comprise what was a de facto major.

Since Byron died, the Nelson draws some bigger names, but not to the level it had previously. Because few PGA Tour events draw a concentrated collection of the top 10 any more, other than the majors.

Look at the PGA Tour schedule and you will quickly see that only about seven tournaments can draw them all: the U.S. Open, the British Open, the Masters, the Players Championship, the Memorial (Jack Nicklaus’ tourney), the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup.

Throw in the Waste Management tourney in Scottsdale, Ariz., if you want, and one or two others, too.

Golf is like most sports in that it continually shrinks while it grows. The media that covers it increases while it decreases.

The sport, and the tour, are evolving and are unsure of the new baseline. As a result, tournaments like the Colonial, even the Houston Open, reside in an unnerving time.

As Bud Kennedy pointed out, Fort Worth is in an unnerving time, too.

Fort Worth needs to take care of Fort Worth, which includes the Colonial, and not worry about what happens to the Nelson.